Crochet All The Things! (ottoman cover)

Hold on to your hats my friends, I've been crocheting everything for the past 2+ years and if you sit still for very long around me, I'm liable to crochet you too! Crochet is pretty addictive but the upside is how very practical it can be. It has its limits to be sure, and there are some things that are just better off knitted, but if you stay firmly within crochet's wheelhouse, there's lots of awesomeness just waiting to be made.

Since I haven't blogged about my obsession with crochet yet, I'll have to back up and share some previous projects before I can show you what I'm currently working on.

My first big project* was to make a cover for our footstool out of all my practice granny squares (pictured above). I finally finished it late last Spring and the cats immediately claimed it for themselves.

When I first started crocheting, I got loads of "how-to" books from the library and a bunch of different yarns to practice with. I ended up with a stack of truly random granny squares and no plan for them.  We certainly didn't need more blankets or sofa throws, but I hated the idea of not using them for something. Then my eyes fell on our shabby-but-not-chic footstool still wearing its aging, "temporary" muslin slip cover. Needless to say, it got volunteered.

I had no real direction or blueprint to go by in order to construct the ottoman cover. I pretty much just winged it and made it up as I went along. That should be obvious by looking. If you're interested, these are the basic steps I took...

1. Took measurements of everything 
2. Laid the squares out on the footstool and/or floor, and played with placement... a lot
3. Took a digital photos when I was satisfied with the arrangement so I wouldn't forget what went where
4. Added extra rows of crochet around any of the squares that didn't match the others in size
5. Measured everything again
6. Bordered all of the squares with a row of single crochet stitches in off-white yarn
7. Connected all the squares into top and side panels with more off-white yarn
8. Connected the four side panels to the top panel, then I connected side panels to make corners
9. Edged the bottom with as many rows of sc and hdc crochet as needed to get it the length I wanted
10. Wove narrow elastic through the bottom edge of it so it would stay snugly in place yet still be easily removed for washing

I should add that I binge-watched every episode of every season of Den Store Strikkedyst that I could find while constructing this. I won't link to it as I don't know if it's even still available to watch anywhere. It's just like the Great British Bake Off. Except it's Danish. And it's about knitting. It's a competitive knitting reality TV show from Denmark. I think there were eight seasons of it. No subtitles. It was so awesome.

And that's my funky-random-ugly-yet-oddly-charming footstool cover.
I love it (and so do the cats).

Keepin' it cozy...
Steph

* not including the Cloche-hat/Basketball-cozy/Shopping-bag fiasco... as it's come to be known.